Sharing Your Faith

I didn’t expect Jesus to show up in a bar that evening. No, it wasn’t a hipster dude with a big beard. It was at my high school reunion where I reconnected with Chris—a formerly awkward and quiet student who now sported snazzy glasses, stylishly gelled hair, and an identity as an openly gay man.

For the past six years, InterVarsity students from mostly New England campuses have been inviting their friends to join them for a week in New Orleans during spring break, where they rehabilitate hurricane-ravaged property during the day and study God’s word in the evening.

First, I was just plain sad. Even though I’d never met Hitchens, I felt a connection with him. His books and lectures, though difficult, helped me think critically about my faith in a way I’d never done before. I hoped and prayed I’d be able to tell him that someday, as I hoped and prayed that a miracle would happen and he would embrace Jesus in all His beautiful irrationality. So when Hitchens died, I was sad.

What comes to mind when you hear missions or missionary? Does it conjure up images of rural living in straw huts in underdeveloped Africa? Is it a life devoid of all knowledge of American pop culture, technology, and internet? I’m a missionary, and I live in Madison, WI.

Recently I’ve talked with a number of peers who (like myself) have one or more parents who are not Christians or who are nominal Christians, showing little desire to read Scripture, pray, pursue community, or discuss anything spiritual. We've expressed to one another doubts that we, as "just their children," have the ability to affect change.

Because it’s the human thing to do. That is, it’s the image-of-God thing to do. When we walk into the studio or theater and start talking with artists, we enter a world of creativity that represents the other half of God’s design for our lives.

I came to college a 17-year-old witch. Literally. I had been deeply involved in the occult for many years, so you can imagine my surprise when I moved into my freshmen dorm and found myself sharing a room with two…Christians.

This fall, InterVarsity is seeing dozens of students across the country make decisions to follow Jesus—from 39 students in New York and New Jersey to 20 students in Texas to 47 students at the University of California Los Angeles.